Angular contact bearings having balls as rolling elements may be used when the bearings need to deflect a load that is not exclusively radial but rather radial-axial. Angular contact bearings having balls as rolling elements have the advantage that they result in less friction than tapered roller bearings, but on the other hand the load-carrying capacity is lower.
The raceways for the balls have to be oriented relative to the pressure transmission direction. This means that in their axial profile the rings of angular contact bearings have a narrow portion and a wide portion in relation to the radial extent, which merge into one another, the raceway for the balls being arranged in the transition.
The rings of the angular contact bearing are usually formed as solid rings, that is to say they are manufactured as a semi-finished product by separation or removal from a solid material. This method of manufacture leads to low production tolerances but owing to the method of manufacture and to the solid semi-finished product that is needed it is relatively expensive.
As its subject matter the publication DE 10 2012 206 441 A1, which relates to the closest pertinent prior art, discloses a planetary-gear differential, a planet carrier of the planetary-gear differential being supported in relation to a housing by a rolling bearing and the rolling bearing being embodied as an angular contact bearing having balls as rolling elements. It emerges from the description that the bearing outer ring of the rolling bearing is produced by drawing and/or that the bearing inner ring of the rolling bearing is produced by extrusion.